Lloyd Gosselink News
Municipal Corner
The Attorney General addresses an individual’s service in dual-public offices and the common-law doctrine of incompatibility.Tex. Att’y Gen. Op. KP-0474 (2024). The Nueces County Attorney requested an opinion from the Texas Attorney General to determine whether an individual… Read More
“Ask Sarah” Column
Dear Sarah, I received FMLA documents from one of my employees, and I think they filled the documents in themselves! As in, I think they changed the information the doctor provided! What can I do? Signed,— NOT… Read More
In the Courts
Water Cases Herrera v. Mata, No. 23-0457, 68 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 121, 2024 Tex. LEXIS 1079 (Dec. 6, 2024). The Texas Supreme Court (“Court”) remanded several homeowners’ claims against Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 1 (“District”)… Read More
Agency Highlights
United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) EPA Reworks Its 1,4-Dioxane Evaluation. In November 2024, EPA released a supplement to its 2020 risk evaluation for 1,4-dioxane. In the 2020 determination, EPA scientists concluded that 1,4-dioxane posed an unreasonable risk… Read More
The Lone Star Current – October 2024 Edition
Click for access to the newsletter cover to cover… Read More
Service Failures During Hurricane Beryl Attract Legislative and Regulatory Attention
by Roslyn Warner and Jake Dyer On the heels of a May 2024 derecho, Hurricane Beryl made landfall near Matagorda, Texas on July 8, 2024 leaving more than 2.7 million Texans without power and resulting in ongoing political… Read More
SUD Conversion: A Hail Mary for WSCs
by Danielle Lam While the population in Texas hit 30 million in 2022, the State’s water supplies are struggling to keep up with the growth.1 The Texas Water Development Board’s (“TWDB”) 2022 State Water Plan predicts that in… Read More
Public Utility Commission Establishes the ERCOT Reliability Standard
by Rick Arnett The Public Utility Commission of Texas (“PUC”), after a year and a half of deliberation, adopted the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (“ERCOT”) reliability standard. ERCOT will now simulate market conditions—such as available power supply,… Read More
Impact Fees: What’s the Impact OF That?
by David Klein Adopting and implementing water and wastewater impact fees can be a very useful (and in some instances critical) tool for a municipality or water district (“District”) to generate the needed revenues to pay for the… Read More
Texas Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in Critical Water Quality Case
by Nathan Vasser The Supreme Court of Texas heard oral argument on October 1, 2024 in a case that carries implications for both deference to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (“TCEQ’s”) discharge permitting as well as to… Read More